MadMax
Invader
(ONLY read this if you want to be spoiled, or you have been to Maiden already.)
My first Iron Maiden concert was the worst and most disappointing concert I have ever attended.
Let me ask you a question first: are Maiden fans in other countries as stupid as German fans? It seemed to my girlfriend and me that Dortmund has a big tendency to push, relentlessly and selfishly! The fans blew that concert for both of us.
It started after we had made all the way from Berlin to Dortmund in a four-hour trip by train; we had arrived in Dortmund and used the subway to get to Westfallenhalle 1 where quite a number of people already stood broadly in front of the wide entrance. Seeing how many people would come after us, we decided to keep standing, which means two and a half hours of little movement and ever-reducing space around us. Shortly before the doors were finally opened, it was hard to breathe in-between all the others who were mostly taller than us, and then they started pushing forward from behind as if the first place in the row would be the only one to get! It was totally pointless because after a few meters we were checked and let in one by one... inside the outer ring of the hall, it was much more empty and we had time to get our clothes away and see the restrooms before walking into the hall.
A few rows directly in front of the stage had already built up, but most of the space was still empty and so we positioned outselves in about row seven. The stage wasn't all that big really and it had the Lauren Harris walls and a small drumset on it, and at about half past seven Lauren started her gig while many fans were still coming in, and my girlfriend and I had no problem to see most of the stage even though we had bigger people in front of us. When Trivium came on, it was a bit harder to see and the first fights started - a few fans obviously thought that they had to steal our spots and tried to force themselves in which resulted in quite a bit of movement, and some fans didn't pay attention to others and simply raved away so much that the whole crowd in the front was shaken apart. We lost our good spots in the right half of the crowd and were shifted towards the far right where we tried to stay until Maiden came on.
Trivium were quite good actually; they played some good stuff and got the people hot, but the sound wasn't as good as I'd expect it for a Maiden concert - guitar solos were hard to hear, singing sounded distorted and the bass was up way too much; I've been to better sounding gigs. But it should get worse, with the fans and the sound.
When the Maiden intro started, we were shifted to the right side again; now it was hard to see anything and when Different World started, the only thing I saw were masses of people falling away from me and back at me, and my girlfriend (she's smaller than me) was drawn into that pool and couldn't really stand up on her own even when I tried to drag her up again. The movement down there was so extreme that we could neither breathe nor stand, just because those F*CKING German FANS tried aimlessly to get to the front which was impossible! It was FULL, nobody could get through, but they still tried, pushing us down and away from the stage - the only thing I saw was Steve coming to the end of the stage and Bruce jumping up, and a second of Nicko's drumset, and then I turned away from the stage and dragged my crying girlfriend out of the crowd, which was difficult but the people understood my handsigns and let us out. The speakers practically blew us out too; we both had hearing protection on, but the music was SO loud it was hard to bear. I've been to rock concerts without protection and it was never so loud; there were no dynamics left in the audio, everything was a washed mess of guitars and bass and drums and distorted singing, it was quite shocking as I was expecting a lot better from Maiden.
Anyway, we were out of the crowd and looked back, and they were all pressed against the stage while the rear half of the hall was empty! I mean, of course people at the back try to get to the front, but this was madness. We went out of the hall to the outer ring and sat down to drink something; we were both shaking.
Practically the whole experience was ruined and all the money and waymaking and waiting was for nothing. We went back in to see the rest of the show after we had missed out on These Colours Don't Run, and when we came in, the crowd had spread much farther to the back and it looked as if the heavy movement in the front rows had stopped, but there was NO way back in there, so we had to stand at the right side diagonally to the stage with speakers blocking our view from seeing Nicko or any of his drums, and while we did see the other band members and Bruce came over to the edge of the stage sometimes, it was simply not the same. I felt I was standing beside the greatest concert of my life and watching it unfold for all these idiots who had pushed us out. I wanted to be a part of the fans down there in the first place, I came to see especially Nicko since I'm a drummer myself and I was so interested in seeing him play, and now all of that was lost. I stood there with my girlfriend and "watched" the show while hearing, well, average sound... guitar solos were hard to make out although they sounded good if they were hearable, the drumming was excellent but couldn't be seen, and Bruce's vocals had clear dropouts whenever he reached one of his high notes which were simply not there. Also, the fact that they played the whole album through and then followed with some old hits wasn't particular exciting in my opinion; I would have liked more if they had played a mix of both. Not even The Number Of The Best was played because of the short time they had after AMOLAD. Some of the songs from the album also didn't sound particularly good live, for example Benjamin Breeg didn't have the power and groove it had in the studio, but again, there was little room for dynamics in the audio.
In summary, I didn't get to see my idol drummer except for a few moments when he threw sticks and drumheads to the crowd, I was not part of the crowd anymore and felt left out of the experience, and I wasn't even motivated enough to sing along with Fear Of The Dark or Hallowed Be Thy Name... the concert was just plain disappointing, and all that thanks to the wonderful German Maiden fans who made AMOLAD #1, as Bruce praised twice that evening. He was very well-tempered and seemed to love the fans, but they didn't love each other. If this is the norm with Maiden concerts in general, I won't go to another one.
My first Iron Maiden concert was the worst and most disappointing concert I have ever attended.
Let me ask you a question first: are Maiden fans in other countries as stupid as German fans? It seemed to my girlfriend and me that Dortmund has a big tendency to push, relentlessly and selfishly! The fans blew that concert for both of us.
It started after we had made all the way from Berlin to Dortmund in a four-hour trip by train; we had arrived in Dortmund and used the subway to get to Westfallenhalle 1 where quite a number of people already stood broadly in front of the wide entrance. Seeing how many people would come after us, we decided to keep standing, which means two and a half hours of little movement and ever-reducing space around us. Shortly before the doors were finally opened, it was hard to breathe in-between all the others who were mostly taller than us, and then they started pushing forward from behind as if the first place in the row would be the only one to get! It was totally pointless because after a few meters we were checked and let in one by one... inside the outer ring of the hall, it was much more empty and we had time to get our clothes away and see the restrooms before walking into the hall.
A few rows directly in front of the stage had already built up, but most of the space was still empty and so we positioned outselves in about row seven. The stage wasn't all that big really and it had the Lauren Harris walls and a small drumset on it, and at about half past seven Lauren started her gig while many fans were still coming in, and my girlfriend and I had no problem to see most of the stage even though we had bigger people in front of us. When Trivium came on, it was a bit harder to see and the first fights started - a few fans obviously thought that they had to steal our spots and tried to force themselves in which resulted in quite a bit of movement, and some fans didn't pay attention to others and simply raved away so much that the whole crowd in the front was shaken apart. We lost our good spots in the right half of the crowd and were shifted towards the far right where we tried to stay until Maiden came on.
Trivium were quite good actually; they played some good stuff and got the people hot, but the sound wasn't as good as I'd expect it for a Maiden concert - guitar solos were hard to hear, singing sounded distorted and the bass was up way too much; I've been to better sounding gigs. But it should get worse, with the fans and the sound.
When the Maiden intro started, we were shifted to the right side again; now it was hard to see anything and when Different World started, the only thing I saw were masses of people falling away from me and back at me, and my girlfriend (she's smaller than me) was drawn into that pool and couldn't really stand up on her own even when I tried to drag her up again. The movement down there was so extreme that we could neither breathe nor stand, just because those F*CKING German FANS tried aimlessly to get to the front which was impossible! It was FULL, nobody could get through, but they still tried, pushing us down and away from the stage - the only thing I saw was Steve coming to the end of the stage and Bruce jumping up, and a second of Nicko's drumset, and then I turned away from the stage and dragged my crying girlfriend out of the crowd, which was difficult but the people understood my handsigns and let us out. The speakers practically blew us out too; we both had hearing protection on, but the music was SO loud it was hard to bear. I've been to rock concerts without protection and it was never so loud; there were no dynamics left in the audio, everything was a washed mess of guitars and bass and drums and distorted singing, it was quite shocking as I was expecting a lot better from Maiden.
Anyway, we were out of the crowd and looked back, and they were all pressed against the stage while the rear half of the hall was empty! I mean, of course people at the back try to get to the front, but this was madness. We went out of the hall to the outer ring and sat down to drink something; we were both shaking.
Practically the whole experience was ruined and all the money and waymaking and waiting was for nothing. We went back in to see the rest of the show after we had missed out on These Colours Don't Run, and when we came in, the crowd had spread much farther to the back and it looked as if the heavy movement in the front rows had stopped, but there was NO way back in there, so we had to stand at the right side diagonally to the stage with speakers blocking our view from seeing Nicko or any of his drums, and while we did see the other band members and Bruce came over to the edge of the stage sometimes, it was simply not the same. I felt I was standing beside the greatest concert of my life and watching it unfold for all these idiots who had pushed us out. I wanted to be a part of the fans down there in the first place, I came to see especially Nicko since I'm a drummer myself and I was so interested in seeing him play, and now all of that was lost. I stood there with my girlfriend and "watched" the show while hearing, well, average sound... guitar solos were hard to make out although they sounded good if they were hearable, the drumming was excellent but couldn't be seen, and Bruce's vocals had clear dropouts whenever he reached one of his high notes which were simply not there. Also, the fact that they played the whole album through and then followed with some old hits wasn't particular exciting in my opinion; I would have liked more if they had played a mix of both. Not even The Number Of The Best was played because of the short time they had after AMOLAD. Some of the songs from the album also didn't sound particularly good live, for example Benjamin Breeg didn't have the power and groove it had in the studio, but again, there was little room for dynamics in the audio.
In summary, I didn't get to see my idol drummer except for a few moments when he threw sticks and drumheads to the crowd, I was not part of the crowd anymore and felt left out of the experience, and I wasn't even motivated enough to sing along with Fear Of The Dark or Hallowed Be Thy Name... the concert was just plain disappointing, and all that thanks to the wonderful German Maiden fans who made AMOLAD #1, as Bruce praised twice that evening. He was very well-tempered and seemed to love the fans, but they didn't love each other. If this is the norm with Maiden concerts in general, I won't go to another one.
) gathered on the floor. It all went down without trouble. So I think you should try another Maiden concert (maybe in Sweden this time?). It is not something you want to miss out.
). I couldn't make a word she was singing or saying (I had a hard time realizing she spoke English). Still, because I knew what was coming next, I didn't really want her to end.
